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J. Pierpont Morgan Sr. 1837-1913
In the early twentieth century, when business leaders became the focus of national attention, J. Pierpont Morgan was the most powerful and influential of those American financiers. His banking empire had controlling or major interests in key railroads and industries, including US Steel and General Electric. A directive from Morgan could influence the stock market, which happened in the panic of 1907, when he lent his prestige and collateral to help stabilize Wall Street. His gift was for consolidating businesses to make them more efficient and profitable. But Morgan also got along with "trust buster" president Theodore Roosevelt, who sought to regulate concentrations of wealth and power rather than break them up.
Morgan rejected this photograph of him -- which was later published to great acclaim -- undoubtedly because of its fierce expression and the knife-shaped reflection on the arm of the chair.
Edward Steichen, 1903 |